Castlevania 2: Simon's Quest
| Castlevania II: Simon's Quest | |
|---|---|
North American box art
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| Developer(s) | Konami |
| Publisher(s) | Konami |
| Director(s) | Hitoshi Akamatsu |
| Programmer(s) | Nobuhiro Matsuoka Yasuo Kuwahara |
| Artist(s) | Noriyasu Togakushi |
| Composer(s) | Kenichi Matsubara Satoe Terashima Kouji Murata |
| Series | Castlevania |
| Platform(s) | Famicom Disk System, Nintendo Entertainment System, Twin Famicom, Microsoft Windows |
| Release | |
| Genre(s) | Platform-adventure |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Publication | Score |
| AllGame |
  |
| GameSpot | 6.5 of 10 |
| GameTrailers | 7.5 of 10 |
| IGN | 7.0 of 10 |
| RPGamer | 3.5 of 5 |
Castlevania II: Simon's Quest is a platform-adventure video game produced by Konami. It was originally released for the Famicom Disk System in Japan in 1987 and for the Nintendo Entertainment System in North America in 1988. It is the second Castlevania title released for the NES, following the original Castlevania. Set sometime after the events of the first installment, the player once again assumes the role of vampire hunter Simon Belmont, who is on a journey to undo a curse placed on him by Dracula at the end of their previous encounter. With Dracula's body split into five parts after his defeat, Simon must find and bring them to the ruins of his castle to seal and defeat him.
The gameplay departs from the standard platforming genre of the first Castlevania for a game more similar to the nonlinear gameplay of Metroid, with several RPG elements such as a world map which the player is free to explore and revisit. Simon, controlled by the player, can talk with townspeople who will offer him clues or lies. He can also go to merchants who will sell items, either for fighting enemies or for traversing to unreachable areas. To pay for them, he must collect hearts, which are dropped by defeated enemies. In addition to the ordinary items in Simon's inventory, he can also purchase new whips in a few locations of the game. He begins with a standard Leather Whip, and can upgrade to stronger ones with each new purchase.Simon's Quest introduces an Experience Rating system, also found in role-playing games, which is increased by collecting hearts. After he finds a sufficient amount, his level and maximum health will increase with his Experience Rating.
The period of time in Simon's Quest cycles between daytime and nightfall, which has a prominent effect on the game and Simon's encounters. During the day, the enemies outside of towns in the game are weaker. At night time, they gain strength and inflict more damage to Simon's life points, though when defeated, they drop more hearts. The townspeople and merchants in their respective locations are no longer available to talk to during night time, and are replaced by zombies.
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